The Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) held a launch event for their independent report on the policing of Brighton’s Carnival Against Fascism on 13th June 2026. The report contains testimonies of counter-protesters who stated that police officers assaulted them, along with photos of the injuries they sustained.
“I was on the front line. I watched a cop grab the white stick off a blind, brave young guy stood next to me, snap it in half, throw it to the ground and say ‘get that out of my face’.”
— Anonymous testimony shared with Netpol
From my own perspective on the day, the police were less interested in public safety and more concerned with ensuring the far right protesters were allowed to march, hurl abuse, threaten violence and stir up trouble. There was no opportunity to reason with any officer I encountered, nor did they show any sympathy with those trying to uphold the peaceful, inclusive equilibrium of our city.
At 3pm on Friday 7th August, on the steps opposite The Prince Albert pub – the scene of what has since been dubbed ‘The Battle Of Trafalgar Street – Sam Walton (Netpol co-founder) and Kevin Blowe (Campaigns & Media Coordinator for Netpol) explained to the assembled audience how the march was an attempt to embolden the racists in our city before describing the harrowing reports of extreme levels of violence inflicted by the police on the day.
Speakers reliving their experiences of that day included a retired NHS worker whose foot was broken by being stamped on in the Terminus Place crush and who is still recovering. We heard how the police fabricated these crushes by pushing people back, where there were no spaces to move into, and that counter-protesters had to look out for each other to protect themselves from the police.
Kevin continued reading shocking testimonies before Brighton Councillor Marina Lademacher spoke of seeing people being beaten and pepper sprayed and of their ongoing traumas since that day. She has written to the Chief Constable expressing her concerns and has asked the Labour-led council to respond to the report.
AFLO. the poet emotionally recalled that she and her partner were pepper sprayed and that Brighton will always turn out against fascism and racism. She concluded with a passionate reading of her poem of hope, ‘One Day’.
Jacob Berkson of West Hill Hall’s migrant-run Jollof Café encouraged everyone to read the report to fully understand the depth of the violence and recalled the previous March for England in 2012 questioning the decision to allow the march to progress down Trafalgar Street. He then spoke about the international anti-racism movement, the importance of border freedoms and how two-tier policing impacts on the marginalised in our society.
Sandy, a legal observer for Brighton Legal Observer & Care Kollective (BLOCK), reaffirmed that Brighton is city of sanctuary that celebrates diversity before detailing how her adult child was assaulted by police and how they emboldened people’s hatred and misogyny. She also questioned why so much money was spent on allowing this hate march to go ahead with many officers being drafted in from other areas.
Kevin ended by reading a section of the report’s foreward that summed up the resilience of the counter protesters. His final words perfectly summed up the community spirit and resilience of 13th June – “Who protects the fascists? The police. Who protects us? We do.”
You can download the full report from Netpol’s website here, or via the link below.
netpol.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/One-Day-in-Brighton-FINAL-web.pdf
